Merck Mercuriadis

Merck Mercuriadis
Background information
Born	October 2, 1963 Schefferville, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Pop, hard rock
Occupation(s)	CEo, founder and managing partner at hipgnosis music ltd.
Years active	34
Labels	Hipgnosis Music, Sanctuary Group
Associated acts	Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Elton John, Morrissey, Kiss, Pet Shop Boys, Destiny's Child, Beyoncé, Black Sabbath, Semi Precious Weapons, Robert Plant, Nelly, Jane's Addiction, Mary J. Blige, Joss Stone, Diane Warren, The-Dream, Ghost Town, Lou Reed, Bruce Dickinson, Catherine Wheel and Antony and the Johnsons.[1][2][3]
Website	www.allmusic.com/artist

Merck Mercuriadis (born October 2, 1963, in Schefferville, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian–American music executive and a music manager. He is the current CEO, Founder and managing partner of Hipgnosis Music Ltd., an artist management firm, publisher and record label based in London and Los Angeles. Mercuriadis is also known as the former manager of several notable rock and pop bands and musicians including Guns N' Roses,^[4][5] Iron Maiden,^[6][7][8] Elton John,^[9] Morrissey, Pet Shop Boys, Macy Gray, Mary J. Blige, Joss Stone, Jane's Addiction, Catherine Wheel^[10] and Wheatus^[11] Mercuriadis is notable for serving from October 1986 to June 2007, as director and CEO of the Sanctuary Group PLC, a major management company, an independent record label, a merchandise company, and a booking agency based in London, New York and Los Angeles.^[12]

Life

At the age of 12, Mercuriadis traveled 100 miles from his home town to watch a Kiss concert. According to him, this event was the defining moment that led him to embrace a career in music.^[13]

Career

Mercuriadis is the current CEO, Founder and managing partner at Hipgnosis Music Ltd. He was the CEO of The Sanctuary Group PLC from October 1986 to June 2007. Earlier, he was an A&R and marketing director at Virgin Records where he started his career at the age of 19. Mercuriadis is known for his contributions to several well ranked albums and singles including Ringleader of the Tormentors (number 1 album) and You Are the Quarry (number 2 album) by Morrissey,^[14] Changes (number 1 single) with Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne,^[15] number 2 single Elton John's Electricity, and several number 1 albums with Iron Maiden.^[11] He was also part of the Mercury Music Prize with Antony and the Johnsons's I Am a Bird Now.^[16] In addition, Mercuriadis was the first music manager to feature on the cover of Billboard magazine with Elton John on September 10, 2005.^[9] For his contribution to the music industry, Mercuriadis was invited to deliver a keynote speech at the Pollstar CIC awards in 2005.^[17][18]

In October 1986, Mercuriadis joined Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor, the founders, at Sanctuary Music (Overseas) Limited, a management company based in the United Kingdom. Over 20 years, he helped build The Sanctuary Group PLC encompassing Sanctuary Artist Management, Sanctuary Records Group Limited, Rough Trade Records, Helter Skelter Agency and Bravado Merchandise, Twenty First Artists and Trinifold Management.^[3] During this time, Mercuriadis moved from London to New York to build the North American base in 2000.^[19] In addition, Mercuriadis and Sanctuary Group relaunched Rough Trade Records with founder Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee in 2001.^[20] This initiative included several artists such as The Strokes, The Moldy Peaches, The Libertines, Arcade Fire Antony And The Johnsons, and The Kills.^[3] In New York, Mercuriadis served as chief executive officer of Sanctuary Group North America until December 2004. Then, Sanctuary reorganized its management team and named Mercuriadis CEO of the entire group for his substantial contribution in the global revenues overseas.^[21][22] During his tenure at Sanctuary Group, Mercuriadis oversaw the management of Destiny's Child, Beyoncé,^[2] Nelly, Mick Fleetwood, Tommy Lee, The Who, and Robert Plant. He also managed the recordings of Megadeth,^[23] Kiss, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Blue Nile, Simple Minds and Lou Reed. With its list of notable artists, intellectual property rights collection, record labels, integrated services style, Sanctuary Group created a unique position in the music industry.^[11][24][25] Mercuriadis resigned from Sanctuary Music Group on October 31, 2006, after 20 years of service. He brought along with him Guns N' Roses and Morrissey while Elton John stayed with the company.^[26]

Mercuriadis's collaboration with Guns N' Roses span over several years during which he contributed to the long time anticipated album Chinese Democracy.^{[4][5][27][28][29]}

After Elton John sold Twenty-First Artists to Sanctuary Group for $30.1 million, he turned to Mercuriadis to manage the creative side of his career.^[9] Mercuriadis was the manager of several of Elton John's albums including Elton John's Christmas Party and The Captain & the Kid. He was also the executive producer of the Elton John's TV show The Red Piano from 2004 to 2006. However, in October 2006, Mercuriadis stepped down from the creative duties related to the artist.^[30][31]

During their collaboration that span over 5 years, Mercuriadis managed several of Morrissey's albums including You Are the Quarry, First of the Gang to Die, Ringleader of the Tormentors, and Greatest Hits.^[11][14][32] which had notable rankings on the record charts. In addition, this collaboration produced ten top 20 singles together with numerous international concerts from Earls Court Exhibition Centre (London) to the Hollywood Bowl.^[33]

Works

Mercuriadis collaborated with several notable music artists and also contributed to well known films including the following:

• Elton John: The Red Piano 2005 – 2006 (TV Show) – Executive Producer.
• Iron Maiden: Rock in Rio (2002 Video) – Executive Producer.^[6]
• Nightlife: The Nightlife Tour (2001 Video) – Management.^[34]

References

External links

• All Music web page
• Discogs web page